Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2 - Ellen G. White

the sincerity of the prayers of all those who claim
to earnestly desire to know their duty. He will
make duty plain. He will give all an ample
opportunity to develop what is in their hearts. The
conflict will be close between self and the grace of
God. Self will strive for the mastery and will be
opposed to the work of bringing the life and
thoughts, the will and affections, into subjection to
the will of Christ. Self-denial and the cross stand
all along in the pathway to eternal life, and,
because of this, "few there be that find it."
God is testing the characters of all. He is
proving their love for His cause and for the
promulgation of the truth which they profess to
consider of inestimable value. The Searcher of
hearts is judging, by the fruits they bear, who are
truly followers of Christ; who, like their divine
Pattern, will renounce the honors and treasures of
the world, and consent to be of no reputation,
preferring the favor of God and the cross of Christ,
that they may, in the end, secure the true riches, the
treasure laid up in heaven, the recompense of
reward—eternal glory.
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